Clean: 360 has given up the booze.
ERIN PEARSON
AUSSIE rapper 360 will use his latest tour to spread awareness of drugs and alcohol addiction as he winds his way down to Geelong.
The self-proclaimed former bad boy and womaniser, whose actual name is Matthew Colwell, said 2011 was a “year of change” for him.
He now wanted others to come clean after giving up alcohol.
Colwell said he had newfound “confidence and love” as well as surging creativity after his detox.
He noted alcohol’s widespread social acceptance but feared booze was “worse than any drug”.
“I always grew up thinking alcohol wasn’t that bad,” Colwell revealed.
“When I was drinking five nights a week heavily I figured that if I was doing that with any other drug I would be looked as a junkie.
“I decided to stop midway though my last tour in the middle of the Perth leg after I got really sick.
“I wanted to save my voice, so I stopped drinking and realised I was having withdrawals and I woke up to the fact that I had to stop.
“I’ve completely stopped partying and everything is strictly business now.”
Colwell, whose latest hit single, Boys Like Me, pokes fun at his former lifestyle and the heartbreak of infidelity, attributed his rejuvenated philosophy on life to his new girlfriend.
He called her the “love of my life”.
“I hate being away from her. If I didn’t have her there with me I would’ve got through it.
“The last girl I was with was the one who cheated on me with my best mates and it sent me on a rampage of being single and getting with as many girls as possible.
“It took me years to get over it.”
The Boys Like Me video features Colwell, Gossling and Ruby Rose playing out the tragic love triangle that inspired the song.
The single, along with Throw it Away and Killer, earned places in Triple J’s coveted Hottest 100 list on Australia Day this year.
360 will play Geelong’s The Bended Elbow on March 8.
